House of Lords briefing

The start of another busy week. Some good news arising out of a
steam of letters, sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
and the Bahrain Embassy, by many members of the public and the
health professions about the Bahrain doctors and nurses jailed for
treating injured protesters. I received a letter back from the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office today, saying what you may already
know; that a decision was made on 6 October: The medical personnel
currently imprisoned in Bahrain will now be re-tried in a civil
court, and the National Safety Court was closed on 7 October.

Yesterday was a long, exciting and challenging day, as we had
the opportunity to speak with a good mix of Peers from across the
political spectrum in the House of Lords about the further
amendments we would like to see to the Health and Social Care
Bill.

This was a very good team effort and Chris
Fitch, our Research Fellow, and William Pickering, our
Public Affairs Manager, were there to advise and support. I
want to thank Baroness Sheila Hollins for leading this
initiative.

It was good that I was also able to go to
another briefing in the House of Lords earlier that day, which was
organised by the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges. This meant I
could follow through key issues into our mental health meeting.
Whatever the outcome, whether we succeed with some amendments or
not, continuing to brief the Peers in the House of Lords is
valuable, as it gives a voice and hearing to what we feel is
important about delivery of mental health services for users and
carers.

It was great that Clare Gerada from the Royal
College of General Practitioners, in the meeting of the Academy,
specifically raised her concerns around what is happening to
addiction services. Speaking of which, I received a response from
the letter I wrote to Anne Milton MP, about the demise of addiction
services, which will go to Council and to the chair of the
Addictions Faculty, Dr Owen Bowden-Jones.

I discovered yesterday that we do have
supporters in the House of Lords, from acorss the political
spectrum, who have great wisdom and are committed to the cause
of the delivery of better mental health services and the protection
and support of vulnerable people - particularly those with learning
disability and children.

In the meantime, I thought you would like to
know that my roof is still leaking, but I am now told: "There will
be an inspection visit, when it stops raining"!